Margot Shetterly - Hidden Figures

238 sweet potato pie and peach cobbler for dessert: Lawrence Louis Squeri, Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania’s Vacationland (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State Press, 2002), 182.

238 students at black colleges in the South: Ibid.

239 set the candle on fire at 9:37 a.m.: CBS News coverage of the launch of Apollo 11, July 17, 1969, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDhcYhrCPmc.

239 Walter Cronkite to wield the jargon: Ibid.

240 the mighty Saturn V rocket consumed: Ibid.

249 $24 billion: Ibid.

241 perceived mistreatment of Ed Dwight: Richard Paul and Steven Moss, We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015), loc. 1902.

243 a celebrity NAACP civil rights fund-raiser: Nichelle Nichols interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, StarTalk Radio, July 11, 2011, http://startalkradio.net/show/a-conversation-with-nichelle-nichols/.

243 “her greatest fan”: Ibid.

243 face-to-face with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Ibid.

243 fourth in command of the ship: Ibid.

243 asked him to tear up the resignation letter: Ibid.

244 curiosity always bested fear: Moore interview.

244 Then, finally, at 10:38 p.m.: CBS News coverage of Apollo 11 lunar landing,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96EPhqT-ds.

244 Neil Armstrong handicapped the odds: Neil Armstrong, interview with Alex Malley, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfj2jqpst_Q.

245 “You have to expect progress to be made”: Johnson interview, December 27, 2010.

245 born at a time when the odds were more likely: 1920 US Census, Statistic of the Population.

245 circling the Moon every fifty-nine minutes: Richard Orloff, Apollo by The Numbers: A Statistical Reference (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2005), http://histry.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-01_General_Background.htm.

246 plot a course to Mars: Johnson interview, January 3, 2011; Harold A. Hamer and Katherine G. Johnson, “Simplified Interplanetary Guidance Procedures Using Onboard Optical Measurements,” Langley Research Center, May 1972, NTRS.

246 “grand tour” of the outer planets: J. W. Young and M. E. Hannah, “Alternate Multiple-Outer-Planet Missions Using a Saturn-Jupiter Flyby Sequence,” Langley Research Center, December 1973, NTRS. Marge Hannah and John Young received NASA achievement awards for their work on this paper. See: “Reid Award Committee Selects Best Directorate Papers for Honorable Mentions,” Langley Researcher , November, 1974, 5; John Worth Young Obituary, http://www.memorialsolutions.com/sitemaker/memsol_data/2061/1292572/1292572_2061.pdf.

248 “I loved every single day of it”: Johnson interview, December 27, 2010.

248 her greatest contribution to the space program: Johnson interview, September 27, 2013.

248 So what do you do when the computers go out?: Warren, Black Women Scientists in the United States , 144.

248 the first of a series of reports: Harold A. Hamer and Katherine G. Johnson, “An Approach Guidance Method Using a Single Onboard Optical Measurement,” NASA Langley Research Center, October 1970.

249 with Earth’s terminator: Nancy Atkinson, “13 Things That Saved Apollo 13, Part 6: Navigating by Earth’s Terminator,” UniverseToday.com, April 16, 2010.

249 “They are loud in their praise”: James L. Hicks, “Negroes in Key Roles in US Race for Space: Four Tan Yanks on Firing Team,” New York Amsterdam News , February 8, 1958.

250 A STEM institute bearing her name: The Alpha Academy in Fayetteville, North Carolina, plans to unveil its Katherine G. Johnson STEM Institute in 2016.

251 “Rockets, moon shots, spend it on the have-nots”: James Nyx Jr. and Marvin Gaye, “Inner City Blues,” What’s Going On , New York: Sony/ATV Music Publishing, 1971.

252 “pollution, ecological damage, energy shortages, and the arms race”: Robert Ferguson, NASA’s First A: Aeronautics from 1958 to 2008 (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2012).

252 “salt on the wounds”: Ibid.

252 “big fat money pot”: Alan Wasser, “LBJ’s Space Race: What We Didn’t Know Then, Part Two,” The Space Settlement Institute, June 27, 2005, http://www.thespacereview.com/article/401/1.

252 cancel its supersonic transport program: Christine M. Darden, “Affordable Supersonic Transport: Is It Near?” Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences lecture, Yokohama, Japan, October 9–11, 2002.

252 an “Apollo moment”: Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution , 102.

252 “setting dogs to barking”: Lawrence R. Benson, Quieting the Boom: The Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator and the Quest for Quiet Supersonic Flight (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2013), 8.

252 “death of pets and the insanity of livestock”: Ibid, 7.

253 “164 million”: “Exploring in Aeronautics: An Introduction to Aeronautical Sciences Developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center,” NASA Lewis Research Center, 1971, 1.

253 Langley announced a sweeping reorganization: Edgar M. Cortright, “Reorganization of Langley Research Center,” September 24, 1970.

253 to a total of 3,853 from its peak of 4,485: Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution , 102.

253 “routine, quick-reaction and economical access to space”: “Tenth Anniversary of John Glenn’s Space Flight Observed,” Langley Researcher , March 3, 1972.

254 Mary took FORTRAN classes: Jackson Personnel File.

254 She made so many speeches: “Speaker’s Bureau,” Langley Researcher , February 20, 1976.

254 “We have to do something like this”: “Personnel Profiles,” Langley Researcher , April 2, 1976.

255 organized the retirement party for Kazimierz Czarnecki: “Retirement Parties,” Langley Researcher , December 15, 1978.

255 papers to her name: Mary Jackson, “Mary W. Jackson, Federal Women’s Program Coordinator,” LHA, October 1979.

255 This was a contrast with Goddard: Dunnigan, “Two Women Chart Way for Astronauts.”

255 “to place a woman in at least one:” Edgar Cortright to Grove Webster, “NASA Plans to Attract More Qualified Women to Government Positions,” June 11, 1971, NARA Phil.

255 restricted women to playing during the workday: Sharon H. Stack, personal interview, April 22, 2014.

255 she had probably hit the glass ceiling: Champine interview.

256 instrumental in bringing the separate: Mary Winston Jackson Obituary program, February 17, 2005, in author’s possession.

256 equal opportunity employment counselor: “Meet Your EEO Counselors: Mary Jackson,” Langley Researcher , June 23, 1972.

256 Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Advisory Committee: “Advisory Committee,” Langley Researcher , May 11, 1973.

257 “fantasy that men were uniquely gifted”: Fries, “The History of Women in NASA.”

258 “everybody’s daddy had a plane”: Gloria Champine, personal interview, July 23, 2014.

258 the “crazy things”: Gloria Champine, “XB-15: First of the Big Bombers of World War II,” NASA History website, http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/XB-15. Gloria’s father’s crew worked with the NACA’s chief test pilot, Melvin Gough, and a young Robert Gilruth to produce the report “Stalling Characteristics of the Boeing XB-15 Airplane (Air Corps No. 35-277), by M. N. Gough and R. R. Gilruth.

258 “They kept testing you”: Champine interview.

258 “hard head and strong shoulders and back”: Gloria Champine, interview with Sandra Johnson, JSC, May 1, 2008.

259 Gloria marched her over to meet: “EEO Highlights,” Langley Researcher , July 20, 1973.